Adventure Blog: Cascade Locks, Oregon

I'm a strong believer that every adventure requires a mission.  To seek out, ravage through Mother Earth, and find a hidden gem.  The Earth is full of them, trailblazers discovered them, stacked rocks help us find them again.  It's taken centuries to create them, undisturbed by humans, and they are perfect the way they are.  Waterfalls are one of our favorite hidden gems to explore to because of their beauty, uniqueness, and positive aroma caused by negative ions.   Michelle, the genius that she is, found a hike with 3 gorgeous waterfalls, 2 brilliantly engineered bridges, and several breathe taking views of the Columbia River.  The hike was incredibly fun and didn't require too much energy; it was perfect because it was a nice stop/break from driving on our way to Portland from Smith's Rock State Park.  Parking was easy.  There's free parking at the Ridge Trail, located on the map below, click on it to get directions:

We packed 1 bottle of water each, some snacks, and set out on the trail.  I don't know why we didn't bring our hammock but it would have been very useful throughout the hike.  The massive Columbia River runs adjacent to the trail, allowing several beautiful viewpoints/hammock spots along the way. I don't want to give away too much of the adventure but it was incredibly refreshing, full of vibrant green and semi-foliage, and was my favorite hike of our Oregon trip.  The weather was somber and dreary, the clouds gathered above us threateningly, as if the Lord finally answered the prayers of a desperate farmer during a drought.  There was no sun and the mist was heavy; I was absolutely in love.  Because of this place, my heart will forever be camped out in Oregon.

The Horsetail Falls:

Ponytail Falls/Horsetail Creek:

Adventure Blog: Crater Lake, Oregon

Those that are near can feel its energy.  This was the most mystical place that we visited in Oregon.  Warm with a light sweet and fresh breeze, the smell of nature was intoxicating.  I can still close my eyes and feel the piney aroma of the evergreens fill parts of of my lungs that I forgot existed.  It was like baptising my lungs in nature with air.

If you ever go to Oregon, make sure you stop at the deepest lake in the United States, Crater Lake.
This volcano is astonishingly beautiful and mysterious as it lies in her greatness.   Michelle and I were lucky enough to enjoy and get to know her on our road trip this month.  She's definitely a site to see, Michelle and Crater Lake haha.  Michelle probably knew all of this info about Crater Lake because she's super smart, so here are something important facts she taught me/what I learned.

Adventure Blog: Thor's Well, The Spouting Horn, and The Rainbow Bridge in Oregon

Located on the beautiful Oregon Coast lies a special treasure, in a magical place in Cape Perpetua.  Hidden in plain sight is a natural phenomenon that I never thought existed.  Our adventure was incredible.  The weather finally felt like Oregon; it was damp, cold, and heavily misty, like walking through a puffy cloud of eeriness.  

Michelle and I navigated our way through the fog into the evergreen forest where we took shelter from the light rain.  I got to smell one of my top 5 favorite smells, that aroma that reaches so deep into your lungs that it quenches your soul and your energizes your mind. The "wet nature smell" is where it's at.  I was too excited and I accidentally broke our umbrella with 5 minutes of leaving the car.  It's been years since I used one of those things and I forgot how to use it haha.  We hiked a little more through some badass tide pools and a bridge which lead us to some stairs that went down to Thor's Well, The Spouting Horn, and this incredible bridge.

Thor's Well: The girl and I went at a bad time, it was low tide so it wasn't over swelling or doing anything too crazy.  It was still cool how it swelled tho.  It was a super sketchy well that would definitely ruin your day if you fell in it.  The moral of the story, go between low-high tide.

The Spouting Horn: Like I said, I didn't know these things existed, natural ocean geysers. This badass water volcano shoots out more than 15 foot high vertical explosions of h2o every time a good wave comes.  It's pretty cool and it makes for a sweet picture if you can time it right.  I heard it was way better during high tide as well but I still thought it was cool.